The Case of the Hiccups
by underwater-smiles
Summary: Nico gets the hiccups and Jason attempts to help him.
1. Intro and The Scare Tactic

A strange sound coming from the other room in Jason's small studio apartment caught his attention. A sort of "-hic-" noise, it perpetrated through Jason's walls and around his room. He got up from his bed and walked into the living room.

Now sure, Jason was used to strange things, but one of the strangest (and most humorous) things he's ever seen was Nico Di Angelo sitting on his sofa looking at a comic book and _hiccuping._

". . .You okay?" Jason asked, leaning against the door frame. Nico looked up from his comic and nodded.

"Yeah, everything is -HIC" Nico stopped for a moment, red creeping into his cheeks. "Everything is fine." He mumbled, looking down at the comic in his lap as if it were truly fascinating. Jason couldn't help but think that that was slightly _adorable._

"You've got the hiccups." Jason said fondly, pushing off the door frame and moving across the room. He plopped down beside Nico on the soft couch, making him bounce.

"Yeah, I already -HIC- figured that one out," Nico gave him a dry smile. "But thanks for your -HIC- help anyway." then went back to reading his comic. Jason laughed and shifted on the couch to look at Nico straight on.

"I'm gonna get rid of your hiccups for you, okay?" Nico's head immediately snapped up to look at him.

"Oh no. No. No -HIC-way." Nico shook his head, a look of seriousness on his face.

"Okay, if you say so." Jason shrugs before turning away from Nico again. He thinks of all the ways he's ever heard of that cure hiccups: scaring someone, drinking lots of water, doing handstands, tickling. Jason wonders if any of those actually work, especially on a demigod like him or Nico.

_Hey, it's worth a shot._ Jason thinks to himself. _And what's the worst that could happen anyway? Nico sends me to Hades?_ Jason smiles at the very thought of it.

**METHOD 1: THE SCARE TACTIC **

Jason stood hovering just behind the door that lead into the kitchen. He could hear Nico rummaging around in there for the gods know what. But every once in a while, a loud HIC would interrupt the comfortable silence, followed by angry grumbling in what sounded like Italian. It took all of Jason's will power not to burst out laughing just at that.

Peering around the corner of the door again, Jason saw Nico turn his back to him to grab something out of a drawer. _The perfect opportunity._ Jason thought. _Okay. It's now or never._

Jason bolted from his hiding spot, running directly at Nico and grabbed him around the waist. Jason then squeezed and yelled, "BOO!"

Nico let out an inhumanly loud shriek. He turned instantly, face bright red.

"JASON GRACE YOU -HIC- IDIOT WHAT THE -HIC- HADES ARE YOU DOING?" Jason felt instant disappointment; the only thing his first 'cure' did was severely piss Nico off.

Nico looked at him expectantly, waiting for his answer.

"I, um. I was trying to cure your hiccups for you!" Jason tried to look sheepish, like he was _really_ _sorry_ for what he had done.

Nico looked at him in the _most _unamused way and snapped, "That doesn't make it okay." He picked up what he had dropped and pushed passed him, stalking down the hall. Jason couldn't help the small smile that tugged at his lips as he watched him walk down the hall. _On to method 2 then. _


	2. Aspiring Fishes

METHOD 2: ASPIRING FISHES

Looking back on it, Jason realized trying to scare Nico's hiccups away was a really, _really_ bad idea.

Jason stood on his toes as he reached into the deepest part of the cupboard. He fished out all the glasses he could find and set them on the table. A quick count said that he had a collective total of 15 glasses. He didn't exactly know how he was going to get Nico to drink 15 glasses of water, but he knew he had to.

A door opened down the hall, followed by shuffling footsteps and hiccups that got continuously closer and louder. Nico emerged from around the corner, holding a blanket around his shoulders. He looked at Jason for a second, then shifted his gaze toward the table. After a second he looked back at Jason with an extremely questioning gaze, his eyebrows raised.

"I can totally explain." Jason said instantly.

"Okay then, explain to me why -hic- exactly you felt the need to gather up all of our cups and put them on the -hic- table?"

"I, um. Well, I sorta _have another method that could cure your hiccups._" Jason rushed out the last part, looking anywhere but Nico's face.

"What?"

"I think I know another way to cure your hiccups!" Jason tried to sound like he really wasn't afraid Nico would send him to Hades any second. (He didn't really think it was working, though.)

Nico looked like he'd just been slapped. "Jason! Scaring me was -hic- bad enough, now you want to -hic- try something else?" Jason knew how bad this whole thing probably sounded.

"This method doesn't have anything to do with scaring you, okay? It's actually pretty easy." Nico looked at him skeptically, obviously not trusting of him.

"What do I -hic- have to do?"

"All you have to do is drink lots and lots of water continuously." Nico looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Please? Nico please, come on. It's not that hard." Jason stuck his bottom lip out, hoping his "puppy dog pout" worked.

Nico let out a loud sigh. "If it gets you off my back any sooner, then fine, I'll do it."

Jason grinned at him. "Great. Okay, so um, here." He handed Nico a glass filled to the brim with cold water. "Just chug that okay? I'll keep handing you glasses when you finish." Jason nodded encouragingly.

Nico took the glass from his hand and started gulping down the water down. He set the now empty glass on the table, and grabbed the cup Jason held out to him.

They did this for a while, until Nico belched loudly and held up his hand. "If I do anymore I -hic- think I'll drown, and that's not even -hic- _possible._"

Jason felt instant disappointment when he heard Nico's hiccups once more. "It didn't work." Nico rolled his eyes at him.

"That's all you -hic- got out of that? No, it -hic- didn't, but you succeeded in almost -hic- drowning me from the inside out, so -hic- thanks for that." He stood from the table and walked out, shaking his head.

Jason smiled apologetically at him when he passed, then started clearing cups from the table.


	3. Tickle Me Pink and Pucker Up Buttercup

**METHOD 4: TICKLE ME PINK**

Jason grinned; he could feel the excitement tingle in the tips of his fingers. Nico sat across from him on the couch, watching tv. He was totally oblivious to what Jason was about to do to him

He lunged at Nico and grabbed his waist. Jason more or less sat on top of him, pushing his knees on either side of Nico's hips. He wriggled his fingers, squeezing in some places and gliding over others. Nico let out a loud shriek. "JASON GRACE WHAT THE -hic- ARE YOU DOING?" Nico's voice was continually stopped by hiccups and laughing. "J-J-Jason!" Nico fell into a fit of laughter before he could finish his sentence. "STOP! JASON -hic- STOP!" Nico's voice was almost to breathy to understand.

Jason could barely contain his own laughter. "What? Sorry Nico but I can't understand you!" Jason tickled him again, keeping Nico trapped under himself. Jason was unsure of how long he's been on top of Nico; but he did know that it had to be long enough for Nico's entire face to turn red.

When Jason pulled back to say something else, Nico swatted at his face and shoved his chest, causing him to fall off the couch entirely; but not before he grabbed Nico's arms and pulled him down with him.

They landed in a heap on the floor, Nico on top of Jason. Nico braced his hands on either side of Jason's head to steady himself.

"That totally -hic- did not work." Jason couldn't help his laughter as Nico rolled off oh him. He purposefully stepped oh Jason's chest as he moved to sit back down on the couch.

"Ouch! Nico-" Before he could go any further though, Nico put he feet on Jason's chest gave him a look that said, "What are you going to do about it?" After a second of thought Jason sighed heavily and accepted his fate as Nico's foot stool.

**METHOD 5: PUKER UP BUTTERCUP**

Jason had never been this nervous. His palms were sweaty and he was pretty sure if he took his hands out of his pockets they'd shake. He knew for sure what he had to do to get rid of Nico's hiccups, but he wasn't sure if he could actually go through with it.

The faint sound of hiccups down the hall alerted Jason of Nico's presence. His palms suddenly become even more sweaty; his heart beat so hard he though it would break through his rib cage.

When Nico turned the corner, Jason cupped his face before leaning down to press his lips haphazardly to Nico's. He could feel Nico take a sharp breath in, but thanked the gods when he didn't pull away. After a few seconds Nico relaxed and actually started to kiss Jason back. Jason settled a hand on the back of Nico's head and one on his hip, steadying him. Nico gripped the back of Jason's shirt, pulling his closer and deepening their kiss at the same time.

They stayed like that for what had to be 15 seconds before Nico started to pull away. His cheeks had a light pinkness to them, but he was smiling widely. Nico looked at him for a second, bit his lip, then stood on his toes again and kissed Jason's cheek.

"You really should have tried that one first." He said cheekily, before flouncing off down the hallway, hiccup free.


End file.
